Are the Speaker and Kalon Tripa stifling free speech?

By the editorial board of The Tibetan
Political Review

A certain
defensiveness is settling over the elected leadership of the Tibetan
government-in-exile (TGIE). The self-immolation crisis in Tibet and the
resignations of the Tibetan Envoys have placed extreme pressure on the TGIE
leadership’s signature Middle Way policy of asking China for Tibetan autonomy
under Chinese sovereignty. At a time when this policy is becoming more
challenging to defend, a new campaign has emerged that – rather conveniently –
could drastically curtail any criticism of the TGIE leadership.

This campaign
involves resurrecting a year-old debate over the controversial restructuring
and re-naming of the TGIE. Ironically, it was launched at the Tibetan Democracy
Day celebrations on September 2, when Kalon Tripa Lobsang Sangay and Parliamentary
Speaker Penpa Tsering condemned unnamed individuals who caused “hurt” to His
Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The Details of the Campaign

On August 3, 2012
at a teaching in Ladakh, His Holiness made comments on the nature and origin of
the term “Tsenjol Bod Shung” (TGIE), and the effect of separating “Ganden
Phodrang” (technically, the institution of the Dalai Lama) from “Bod Shung”
(the Tibetan government or administration). His Holiness also stated that it
was incorrect to say that “Bod Shung” was disbanded (his phrase was “dubsok
gyap” or packed up), and that claims to that effect made him disappointed (“lo
phampa”). As always, His Holiness gave a detailed and logical explanation.

What His Holiness
didNOT say – and this is very important – is
that he wanted his words to be exploited by others to stifle free speech. Nor
did His Holiness say he wanted his words to be exploited by others to insulate
politicians from criticism.

Unfortunately, that
appears to be what is happening.

At the Democracy
Day celebration on September 2,Kalon Tripa Sangay condemned some unnamed peoplewho,
“either knowingly or unknowingly”, are creating divisions among the Tibetan
people. (Parliament changed the title of Kalon Tripa to Sikyong or ‘political
leader’ as this article was going to press.)Speaker Tsering similarly attacked“baseless
claims made by a small group of Tibetans causing distress to His Holiness the
Dalai Lama”.

“Instead of doing
their duties, a small group of Tibetans have engaged in making groundless
claims on matters concerning the general meeting, special parliament session
and His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s devolution of political authority to the
democratically-elected CTA leadership, to create discord in the community”.

Thus, in a neat
rhetorical move, Speaker Tsering brought Parliament’s decisions under the
umbrella of His Holiness. Criticism of Parliamentary decisions are now attacked
for creating “discord” and hurt to His Holiness.

Speaker Tsering
issued a warning to his fellow Parliamentarians: “[I]f you expressed own
personal views, then you are not carrying out your responsibilities of being a
parliamentarian”. Apparently, Speaker Tsering now believes that individual
members of Parliament are obligated to support the official line. Such a
philosophy, however, runs counter to the ideals of liberal democracy – the very
ideals for which His Holiness has worked for over sixty years. The duty of a
legislator is to their constituents, and they absolutely can disagree with
their parliamentary leaders. If not, the system would be a one-party
dictatorship.

Speaker Tsering
also issued a challenge to the Tibetan media. He warned the media not to be “a
medium to spread discord within the community”. Specifically, he said that
“some people write under pseudonyms articles and comments in websites to
destabilise the community and denigrate His Holiness the Dalai Lama”. He called
on the media to “properly verify the contents of and intentions behind such
articles and comments”.

The Speaker sounds
(intentionally or not) uncomfortably close to authoritarian regimes that seek
to control popular opinion by controlling or intimidating the media. This is
unacceptable in a genuine democracy. The media should be a “Fourth Estate” that
investigates and challenges any powerful institution and holds such power
accountable.

It should be
needless to recall the numerous times that His Holiness has spoken out in favor
of democracy and free speech. In fact these are His Holiness’ life-long mission
and when His Holiness handed power to the Kalon Tripa on August 8, 2011, His
Holiness said that his ‘long awaited heartfelt wish was fulfilled.’ Therefore,
His Holiness’s deeply-held pro-democracy position could not be clearer.

Given these
principles, it is almost incomprehensible that this campaign of attempted
intimidation is now being carried out by top Tibetan politicians in the name of
His Holiness.

It is even odder
considering that Sangay, Tsering, and the Parliament itself have actually
engaged in the same “crimes” they now denounce:

Sangay campaigned
on adding the word “shung” (government) back to the TGIE’s Tibetan name,
criticizing the name-change that he now strenuously defends.

On March 18, 2011,
the Parliament itself went against His Holiness’s wishes,when it passed a resolution“strongly
beseeching His Holiness the Dalai Lama to continue to remain as both the
spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people” (even though His Holiness
had already stated his desire to step down).

On May 24, 2011,
the participants of the Special General Meeting of Tibetansunanimously
called for His Holiness to remain as symbolic Head of State of the TGIE. Speaker Tsering
is quoted in an official press release bringing this resolution to His
Holiness. The unanimous recommendation of the Special General Meeting (in which
Sangay, Tsering and most of the Parliamentarians participated) went against His
Holiness’s expressed wish to step down.

This year on March
20, 2012, a majority in Parliament challenged the TGIE’s name-change by
supporting a resolution to change the TGIE’s Tibetan name back to include the
word “shung” (in this case, the proposal was “'U Bod Mi Shung”, loosely:
Central Tibetan Government or Administration). The resolution failed to reach
the required 29 votes (2/3 majority). However, it received 23 votes in favor,
over a 50% majority.

Perhaps the Tibetan
leadership should now criticize itself? Or perhaps this suggests that something
else is at play; that this campaign is not really about the restructuring and
re-naming but rather intended to silence critics of the TGIE leadership and its
policies?

Interestingly, the
conclusion that this campaign’s true goal is to protect the current
administration comes directly from Kalon Tripa Sangay’s cabinet.Home Minister Dolma Gyari was recently quotedas
asserting that the Tibetan people should “accept whatever policies are decided
upon by the government”. Regarding criticism of the administration’s policies,
she noted that “some actions appear like those of an opposition party which
wants to destroy the authority of our current administration, and we must
carefully consider, who stands to benefit from that?”

Conclusion: This Embarrassment
Should End

This campaign is
farcical at best and dangerous at worst. Since the 2008 uprising in Tibet,
there has been a growing voice in the Tibetan exile community that is publicly
challenging the current approach to China and criticizing the methods that the
TGIE has employed for the last few decades. Some in the exile community appear
threatened by this criticism. Now the Tibetan people are seeing an attempt to
turn criticism of the TGIE leadership into disloyalty to His Holiness. In this
current exercise, His Holiness’s statements made in Ladakh (and also in Italy)
are grossly misinterpreted and misused.

This campaign
raises the specter of traitors in our midst, who are guilty of saying that
which the administration’s own leaders have already said. Criticism is turned
into disloyalty to His Holiness, the media is chastised, and a mysterious
Tsokpa Chukchik begins making threats.

These tactics
create a chilling effect among Tibetans who may fear that they will be
wrongfully labeled anti-Dalai Lama simply because they disagree with policies
of the TGIE leadership or hold different political views. There is now
reportedly an air of "us and them" hovering in many Tibetan
communities and especially Dharamsala.

Hopefully the
Tibetan people will rise above this bait. There is no real threat to
“denigrate” His Holiness, who is more revered than ever in the Land of Snows
and in exile. Indeed, the Tibetan people are more unified than ever thanks to
the inspiration of brave Tibetans inside Tibet, who are willing to risk everything
for their country and for His Holiness.

The only threat to
Tibetan unity that we see here is the threat posed by those who (intentionally
or not) exploit His Holiness’s name to stifle free speech and democratic
debate. Such anti-democratic actions run counter to His Holiness’ dedication to
democracy and civil rights.

These actions are
an embarrassment that should end now. The broader Tibetan cause is harmed when
the leadership uses tactics that are associated in most people’s minds with
systems other than democracy: equating disagreement with disloyalty, condemning
an unnamed “small group of people” for stirring discord, demanding that all
legislators uphold the party line, intimidating the media, etc. The TGIE
leadership’s experimentation with such tactics is not a proud moment for them,
for the Tibetan people, or for His Holiness’s inspired democratic vision.

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